Fall Festival at Cook Elementary School and Thank-You Breakfast for Those Who Helped

The 300 people who came to the fall festival at Cook Elementary School on Oct. 18 got a chance to visit with people from the Winston-Salem fire and police departments, the athletic department at Winston-Salem State University and the mascot for the Winston-Salem Dash baseball team while eating popcorn and pizza and listening to music provided by African drummers, DJ Joshua Moyer and others.

“I played some old Motown and some newer rap and everything in between,” Moyer said.

Shanika Y. Gray, the parent involvement and business partnership coordinator at Cook, organized the festival, and, on Oct. 25, she held a thank-you breakfast at Cook for everyone who helped out. Many of the volunteers at the festival are part of 1st Serve, a volunteer group with First Presbyterian Church that has been helping out at Cook for some time. Volunteers work on the grounds, help teachers with bulletin boards and such, and drop by to have lunch with students who are their “lunch buddies.”  

“We were called to be good neighbors,” said Danielle Lamphier, who is the co-chair of 1st Serve, said at the thank-you breakfast. “We have a pretty large group of people that love this school and have developed some great relationships here.”

Help from the volunteers is priceless, Gray said. “Our volunteers are the foundation of what we do here.”

A number of businesses also provided supplies and items for a silent auction. The festival raised about $800, which will be used to cover such expenses as student field trips, Gray said.

Gray had a long list of people to thank: Winston-Salem Police Department; Winston-Salem Fire Department; Winston-Salem State RamMobile, Athletic Department and Department of Lifelong Learning; Urban League Young Professionals; Delta Sigma Theta, Inc.; Psi Phi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi, Inc.; First Presbyterian Church; Reynolda Rotary; Experiment in Self Reliance; Forsyth County Public Library Bookmobile; YMCA of Northwest North Carolina; DJ Bobby Shields; Hauser Rental; Sam's Club; The Fixx Hair and Nail Studio; Blend Masters Barbershop; Crown Barbershop; Ultimate Autobody; Wake Forest University; Food Lion; Bojangles; Chick-Fil-A; Domino's Pizza; DJ Dichotomy; Winston-Salem Dash; Spa Nails.